I don't look at it like getting carried away. I see it as making up for lost time. There was almost a decade post 9/11 through the "great recession" when heavy investment didn't make as much financial sense. The economy is recovered and WDW is doing really well. Now is the time to get expansions greenlit.
I don't think they should be looking to expand because WDW is hurting. They need to expand because it's doing so well. The best way to keep guests happy is to give them more to do. Eventually they will need a 5th gate, but they need to take care of DHS and EPCOT first.
An additional red flag is dumping un-necessary capital into competing with the egos and free flow of cash over at Universal Creative instead of investing in the true driver and supporter of growth- infrastructure. But of course they're doing both and spending billions at WDW yet it's not enough to satisfy the 1% of Disney's market share that thinks WDW is terrible yet continues to visit annually or more.
It's truly amazing when someone can pop in for such a short time and speak to the collective mentality of over 800 people.
True, but corporate borrowing rates are still pretty low. Actually, Disney has the cash anyway. Where they could have benefited was from cheaper labor and government incentives to add jobs. My company was very successful at putting Obama dollars to work.
Only after the fire. (And thank goodness for that!)
I don't particular care if you've been reading the forums for one day, week, month, year, or decade. You're just another anonymous voice on an internet forum, and burnishing your supposed credentials doesn't make you any better than those whom you seek to criticize....
People subjectively state how bad a ride is or how little money is being spent. When asked to quantify their concerns vs the facts, they get quite un-nerved. The only reason for bothering to mention credentials was to address the dismissive attitude directed toward me not "being a veteran" or something of that sort. But again, I guess I'm as guilty as them when I play along, so you're right in that regard. Yay internets, I guess. Then again, a little objectivity and credibility would vastly improve the discourse around here.
Having thought about this for a while, I'm wondering if there's another side to this too. We know Disney has been becoming increasingly indifferent towards APs at Disneyland, eliminating free parking and raising prices. At the same time this has been going on, we also know that there's been a hotel boom in the Resort District, and that Disneyland's own hotels have been selling well too. What if there's a shift beginning to emerge where Disneyland itself saw a lower amount of APs, and a greater number of long distance. We know the long distance travelers are bigger spenders, and they also don't know how to be savvy with their money. It very well could be that Disneyland itself had a shift toward bigger spenders too. Swap out 100,000 guests for 80,000 guests that spend 40% more, and Disney is a happy camper.
Opinions about rides are just that opinions.Criticism of people that don't use facts doesn't make me better, it just makes their arguments look poor compared to mine.
. I'm pretty sure there are some people here who back up what they are saying with facts. Despite the appearance at times, there is quite a bit of objectivity and credibility as well. I have questioned people and disagreed with the majority thinking on many occasions, but I do it with respect and with facts when I have them. If it's just my opinion I'll state that too.
What really gets me is the notion that it should rival stuff like Splash Mountain or Indiana Jones Adventure. It's a Fantasyland dark ride. What do you believe Disney was intending to do with Little Mermaid? If you expected an E-ticket, then you're exactly the person I was referring to when I couldn't ever hope to take you seriously. I was under the impression that their goals were something along the lines of: Maintaining the classic Fantasyland style dark ride, but use upgraded projection effects and new style animatronics along with an omni-mover ride system to help with capacity. Honestly, other than perhaps Hunny Hunt at Tokyo, is there a better dark ride in Fantasyland around the globe? Spare me with the sub 3 minute "classics" that either use press board cutouts or static figures.
Fantasyland dark rides that are at or above Little Mermaid's level-
Not Winnie the Pooh
Not Snow White
Not Peter Pan (possibly DL's after the update but we'll see)
Not Alice in Wonderland
Not Mr Toad's Wild RIde
Not Storybookland
Not Casey Jr
I guess you could say Small World is, but I don't even know if that's a fair comparison. I love them as much as the next guy, but lets get real- Mermaid is far more cohesive and impressive in comparison. And the notion that DIsney/Guests were "unhappy with it's presentation" so it needed to be closed/refurbished and changed- good for them. They corrected their errors and turned a good ride into a great one. It's been "plussed" within the first few years instead of having to wait decades for a update like Peter Pan, Indy, Mansion, Pirates, Small World and all of the other major Disney e-tickets have received as of late. They just got those issues ironed out when the rides creator still had the authority to correct them, instead of waiting 40 some odd years to do so like it took for Haunted Mansion's hatbox ghost.
